βουστροφηδόν

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From βοῦς (boûs, “ox”) +‎ στροφή (strophḗ, “turn”) +‎ -ηδόν (-ēdón, “in the manner of”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /buːs.tro.pʰɛː.dón/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /bus.tro.pʰe̝ˈdon/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /βus.tro.ɸiˈðon/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /vus.tro.fiˈðon/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /vus.tro.fiˈðon/

Adverb

βουστροφηδόν • (boustrophēdón)

boustrophedon: a manner of writing which alternated between left to right and right to left directions (similar to the back and forth pattern of someone plowing a field with an ox); an intermediate between the inherited right to left direction used by Semitic languages and the left to right direction ultimately used in later Greek.

Related terms

στοιχηδόν m (stoichidón)

Descendants

→ Catalan: bustrofèdon
→ English: boustrophedon

References

“βουστροφηδόν”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
βουστροφηδόν in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
βουστροφηδόν in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2024)

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